The Little Things
by CurvyPragmatist
Summary: A short piece about everyday life in the Mills/Swan household.


**Title**: The Little Things

**Rating**: K

**Summary**: A short piece about everyday life in the Mills/Swan household

**Notes**: So I arrived at the SwanQueen party fashionably late, I'm still watching season two. This is my first OAUT story.

Regina sat in a comfortable leather chair in her office at home and sighed to herself. She was examining the town budget for the next year and trying to make sense of the figures she had been supplied by some of the town's business people. She'd brought it on herself, really, bringing fairy-tale characters to another world and expecting them to understand compound interest.

A quiet beeping could be heard from another room and she dropped her pen on the desk and glanced up at the clock on the wall. It would be another thirty five minutes until Emma was home from her shift at the Sheriff's office and Henry was at his grandparents having a sleepover. Regina's eyes wondered to the closed door of her office and a smile crossed her features, the door was closed so she could easily pretend she hadn't heard it.

Then the smile faded and she scrunched up her face in distaste as she remembered her promise to Emma. With a sigh she slammed the books of incorrect figures closed and placed both hands on the desk to hoist herself from the chair. It had been a very long day and the grace and poise of the Mayor had definitely worn away to be replaced with a tired woman who desperately wanted to avoid the task at hand.

Crossing the room with only her tights covering her feet she opened the door and exited her office into the hallway. She cursed the fact she had decorated with marble flooring as her feet touched the cold and slippery floor, she quickly crossed the kitchen and opened a door into a utility room and petulantly reached for a wicker laundry basket and tossed it to the floor in front of a tumble dryer. The machine beeped for a second time alerting the house to the end of its cycle.

"Oh shut up, I heard you the first time," Regina whined to the electronic device as she lowered herself to squat in front of the machine, her tight knee-length skirt rising up slightly as she did so.

She opened the door to the front loading machine and pulled the clothing contents from the drum and into the wicker basket. She paused and picked up a pair of boys boxer shorts in between her thumb and finger and held it up to the light in the kitchen for examination. Light streamed through a small hole in the material and with a roll of the eyes she tossed the offending article into a nearby bin.

Once the machine was empty she picked up the basket and stood up, kicking the tumble dryer door closed as she left the room. Regina Mills, Mayor of Storybrooke, hated doing the laundry but she particularly hated sorting underwear. Of all the menial tasks she had to learn to contend with when she created Storybrooke sorting laundry was the worst. She'd taken to cooking like a duck to water. She even enjoyed cleaning as it meant she could ensure every little thing was to her satisfaction but laundry was just a never ending dirge.

She took the wicker basket to Henry's room and carelessly threw it onto the bed. She rummaged through the items and picked out her son's socks and boxer shorts and placed them in the chest of drawers, knowing that if she didn't then no one else would.

Task complete she picked the basket up again and went to the master bedroom, again placing the basket on the bed with a sigh. She picked up a pair of tights and turned to place them in the wardrobe but immediately tripped on a haphazardly placed pair of boots that were half hidden under the end of the bed. Regina bent down and dragged the boots out from under the bed and opened a wardrobe door to put them away. As she opened the door her heart sunk. On the floor of the wardrobe was countless articles of clothing that should have been hung up, on the few hangers that were occupied sat leather jackets in colours Regina hadn't known existed. She briefly considered tidying the wardrobe but quickly reviewed the mess and instead threw the boots on top of the pile of clothes and slammed the door shut quickly.

She walked back to the basket of clothes and picked up a bra, she looked at it with a frown. Red, lacy, underwire. Was this hers or Emma's? When Emma had moved in Regina knew a lot of things would change but she had no idea how much longer the dreaded laundry would take. Previously it was very easy to sort her garments from Henry's but these days the whole episode took forever.

She put the bra to one side and picked up a pair of panties with polka dots and tossed them to one side of the bed. She picked up several black silk panties and threw them to the opposite side. Then she picked up another bra and looked at it with confusion. She stared down at her white shirt covered breasts and frowned for a moment.

"Why don't you try it on?" a bemused voice laughed from the doorway.

Regina looked up with a smirk as Emma leaned on the doorframe watching Regina's struggle.

"Leaving work early, Sheriff? I hope the Mayor doesn't find out," Regina quipped.

"I won't tell her if you won't.." Emma winked and crossed the room to help with the laundry sorting. As she stood beside Regina she kissed the shorter woman's cheek, "I missed you."

Regina smiled and leaned into the lanky blonde, "I'm glad you're home.."

Emma looked down at the bras in Regina's hands and smiled to herself, she knew Regina's frustration could only be contained for so long and mentally counted to ten while attempting to cover a smirk.

"I refuse to do this anymore," Regina suddenly sighed and threw a handful of bras at Emma, "I can't tell which are mine and which are yours. Deal with the rest of this," she said as she disdainfully waved her hand over the wicker basket and started to cross the room, "and take that leather jacket off, you're inside, dear."

Emma grinned at the mini strop Regina was throwing and watched the beautiful brunette strut from the room. She quickly sorted the bras and ran around the large bedroom shoving panties, bras and socks into the correct drawers before shrugging out of her leather jacket and hanging it up in her wardrobe. Living with Regina was everything she had dreamed of, despite the challenges that cropped up from time to time, she would happily shoulder the odd Regina temper as long as it meant being there for the apology that always followed.


End file.
